Airline staff testyfy at trial of Nepalese man
Airline staff testyfy at trial of Nepalese man
JAKARTA (JP): Four members of Singapore Airlines ground staff testified yesterday at the Central Jakarta District Court in the trial of Basudev Parajuli, 26, a Nepalese charged with smuggling 1.2 kilograms of heroin from Thailand.
The four employees are, Susana Reppintontoan, the airlines' duty manager in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Julita Herna M. Worotikan, Pupung Purnomo and Willy Maskan Hardjawiganda.
Willy told Judge Atjo Darsono that on Sept. 28, 1994, when Singapore Airlines flight number SQ-106 from Singapore arrived at 6:05 p.m., he was contacted by a colleague and was told a man had collapsed in the plane.
"Then my colleague Pupung Purnomo took a wheelchair to the plane and took Basudev to the airport's health center. Due to the inadequate medical care available we took Basudev to Atmajaya Hospital," he said.
He added that he also went to the arrival lounge to check if there were people carrying a placard with Basudev's name on it to pick him up.
Willy said that the doctors in Atmajaya Hospital, on Jl. Pluit Raya in North Jakarta, said Basudev was having a heart attack so it would be better if Basudev was taken to Harapan Kita Cardiac Hospital in West Jakarta.
"So I took him to Harapan Kita Hospital in the airport ambulance and the doctors there said that Basudev's heart was all right but he was having some problem with drug addiction," Willy said.
He said the doctors then recommended Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta or Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta for treating such an illness.
"Since Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital was nearer we went there," he said.
Willy said he and Basudev arrived at the hospital at around 8:30 p.m.
"During the journey Basudev slept and there was no sign that he was in pain. He merely looked like a man who was in a deep sleep," he said.
Willy said some badly behaved people came to see him at the hospital, saying they were police officers and they started to question him about the ill passenger.
"I could not give them any statement because they could not even show me police identification," Willy said, adding that later another police officer took him to Kramat police precinct and questioned him until 4:30 a.m.
Susana, the second witness, told Judge Atjo that she did not know that the passenger, who was still sleeping when all the passengers had left the plane, had 103 capsules of heroine in his stomach.
"I knew his name was Basudev Parajuli after I checked his seat number on the computer and I knew he was a Nepalese from his passport," she said.
She said many people had tried to awaken him but he kept on sleeping.
The third witness, Pupung Purnomo, said he accompanied his colleague, Willy, as far as Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital, but he left Willy alone with the doctors at 10 p.m. to return to work at the airport.
He also said Basudev did not have any baggage except for hand luggage.
The fourth witness, Julita, said one of her colleagues found US$500 in Basudev's wallet and took $200 to convert into rupiah to pay the Nepalese's medical bill.
Julita said she realized that the passenger was involved in a heroin trafficking case when the police summoned her for questioning two days after the incident occurred.
Last year it was reported that Basudev was noticed staggering at Soekarno-Hatta airport and that he collapsed near the departure hall exit. At the time it was believed that a capsule had ruptured in his stomach.
Prosecutor Uri Hasan Basri said in the trial that the defendant swallowed all the capsules at a hotel in Bangkok before flying to Jakarta on Sept. 28, 1994.
At the hospital the police were informed that the urine sample of the Nepalese contained traces of heroin and an X-ray showed a number of mysterious "bubbles" inside his abdomen.
The "bubbles" were then taken out during two different procedures. After an enema failed to help discharge the cylinders, his stomach was pumped.
He smuggled the capsules, weighing a total of 1.2 kilograms, for a Pakistani man, Khan Said, who promised to give the defendant US$1,000 if he managed to bring the contraband to Jakarta. Khan Said is still at large.
During the court session, Basudev was accompanied by prosecutor Meity Joseph, who also acted as an interpreter. Judge Atjo adjourned the trial until March 30.(mas)